Hedgetoad Teaching

The school year ended without a principal at my school. A rudderless ship, leaving us all wondering and worrying about the upcoming year. How to put it in a politically correct manner…? More worried about the choice maker, rather than any actual person taking the position. Clear as mud, right? Anyhow, no principal was found. Or rather, none that would accept the position or was sufficiently appropriate for the position. I’m sure it was for economic reasons as reported in the local paper – our only source of information. Instead we now have an interim principal. First order of business: get every single student who failed the HSPE into the building in August (Ha!) to retake the test. Do not worry about the fact that only a few registered… there is sure to be extra booklets (ha!). So what if your contract doesn’t start for another two/three weeks! If you cared about kids, you would cancel your father’s surgery and recuperation time! Hire a nurse! (who would make more than you if you ...

Last year was a tough year for me. I had a lot going on in my personal life, working on Take One! and the new RtI stuff (which took me out of the classroom more than I liked). I also had a class with a horrible mix of students. All of these things combined in a way to that made me really not want to be teaching or spend any time outside of school thinking about/working school. We all know that teaching isn't a job that can be done during school hours. I wasn't being a good teacher... at least in my mind. This year, my goal is to change that. I've really reworked several things in my sophomore curriculum and added a lot of preparation work into the early months of the year. I'm not sure how well it will go over, as our class configurations changed. Our school no longer has separate "honors" and "regular" english courses for the sophomores. There will be a much greater mix of skill level in the room. My AP courses will continue on, but the summer assig...